Experimental Investigation on the Behavior of Strip Footing on Prestressed Geocell Reinforced Sand: Fid-Bau Portal

Experimental Investigation on the Behavior of Strip Footing on Prestressed Geocell Reinforced Sand

El Sawwaf, Mostafa A. / Nasr, Ahmed M. / Ghoneim, Muhammed / Magdy, Alaaeldin

In the last decades, geosynthetics have established their efficacy in enhancing bearing capacity and reducing settlement in various applications. Despite these advantages, researchers have identified minimal benefits associated with conventional geosynthetic reinforcement at low deformation levels. Consequently, the concept of geosynthetic prestress has gained recognition as a promising solution, aiming to enhance performance and expand its applicability across all deformation levels. While existing studies focus on prestressed geotextile or prestressed geogrid, this research uniquely delves into the behavior of prestressed geocell-reinforced sand. The study experimentally investigates various parameters, including geocell placement depth, cell height, geocell layer length, prestress magnitude, and the stage of tension release, under a strip footing vertically loaded, offering a comprehensive comparison with the un-reinforced or un-prestressed cases. The findings emphasize the superior effectiveness of the geocell prestressing process, capitalizing on its distinctive advantage of tension release- a feature not shared by prestressed geotextiles or geogrids. Furthermore, the research identifies critical design parameters, highlighting that the optimal geocell placement depth and layer length correspond to 0.2 and 7.5 times the footing width, respectively. Additionally, the study establishes that the optimal prestress magnitude is 45% of the geocell ultimate tensile strength, with the most effective tension release occurring at 30% of the ultimate capacity of the un-reinforced case.